Submitted by Mike on Wed, 03/28/2007 - 17:24.

Nearly 250 people turned out for a peace march in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts, on March 24, 2007. This piece was edited by WCCA with footage and photos from Worcester Indymedia.

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Great video!

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/29/2007 - 13:13.

Good job to whoever produced it. This is fantastic, you got some great footage! Kudos

Video production aside, hearing the reverend say that the only way we'll stop this war is by praying was a little absurd. When I heard it at the rally I actually thought he was joking. It's a little scary to me to think that there are still people who genuinely believe that quietly muttering incantations is going to create social change. War will cease to exist only when enough of us, who are complicit in war, refuse to cooperate. No god decides when a war starts or ends. (And if he does, what a malicious God he must be!) People make those decisions. War is profitable for a select group of people, and most of us have become somewhat complicit in their war industry. Some of us work for companies that make weapons, or for companies that provide aid to the military, we pay war taxes, we fuel our cars with Middle Eastern oil. These are the reasons war still exists and will continue to exist unless we change our ways.

Let's not take the easy way out, let's not fools ourselves. The war will _not_ magically end if we stay home and quietly complain about it. Let's not waste time petitioning a god who either doesn't care, who is outright malicious, or who never even exist in the first place. Let's follow the money and target the profiteers. Raytheon, Haliburton, Bechtel, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, GE. Let's take their profits away, let's bring this city to a stand-still, and let's stop business as usual until this war is over.

Anyway, there was a great turnout and lots of energy! I hope to do it again soon, maybe we can step it up a notch.

Thanks for the thanks

Submitted by Mike on Thu, 03/29/2007 - 15:20.

Thanks for the kind words. This video will also be on the Worcester's TV13 community news show this weekend.

I happen to agree with Father Bafaro's comments. If I didn't believe in God, if I didn't think that Truth and Love were the backdrop to our reality, I wouldn't spend time working for peace. Prayer not only strengthens my faith and keeps me going, it's the thing that helps me find meaning in opposing the war.

I appreciate that an event like this can bring together people from so many different perspectives who agree on a single goal. A wide range of Americans now oppose the war--let's keep making the circle bigger and bring as many people into our coalitions as possible.

Prayer....

Submitted by pdmt99 on Thu, 03/29/2007 - 16:27.

I think folks are talking about two different types of prayer. There's the Jim Morrison, "You cannot petition the Lord with prayer." kind, or incantation kind which Anon. refers to, and then there's prayer that is the basis for a discernment process. Anyone who know Fr. Bafaro knows about his WORK both in South America, in Worcester Latino community, in being the key person in the start of Centro Las Americas, and more. Miguel Bafaro isn't into incantations, he's into ACTION. I wish I had the video when he went off on the School Committee a few years back for bringing JROTC into Worcester. Thinking of prayer as 'incantations' is dismissive of the social justice movers we've seen in the U.S., folks like Cesar Chavez, MLK, Dorothy Day, Berrigan brothers. And there's certainly a distinction between prayer and religion which is a whole different discussion.